Lasers Take Winning Attitude to Tournament

Losing is rarely a good thing. But a late-season loss provided the motivation to push the Irvine Valley women’s basketball team into the state tournament, which begins today at Concordia.

The Lasers took a 17-game winning streak and a 13-0 Orange Empire Conference record into their final game at Orange Coast. The Pirates won, 59-53, and Irvine Valley was shaken, according to first-year Laser Coach Julie Hanks.

“You should have seen the dejected looks after the [Orange Coast] game,” Hanks said. “It was like, ‘Wow, so that’s what losing is like.’ I don’t think they want to go back there.”

Irvine Valley recovered to win two playoff games and advance to the state tournament for the first time in the program’s four-season history.

Sophomore point guard Phouangmaly Pravongviengkham was selected the conference’s most valuable player. She is averaging 13.1 points, five rebounds and six assists.

Freshman forward Jami Allred is averaging a team-high 13.3 points and 8.6 rebounds. Freshman center Lauren O’Hara is averaging 11.7 points and a team-best 9.2 rebounds.

“In the beginning we were just eight girls who weren’t expected to do much,” Allred said. “But we worked really hard the whole season to prove ourselves to everyone, and I think we have.”

Notes

Irvine Valley (27-5) plays defending state champion San Jose (28-6) at 6 tonight. San Jose is led by sophomore guard Courtney Keegan, who is averaging 20.6 points. . . . In today’s other games: Siskiyous (26-4) plays Santa Barbara (23-6) at 2 p.m.; Sierra (33-1) takes on Los Angeles Valley (23-13) at 4 and Ventura (30-3) plays Merritt (28-6) at 8. The semifinals are at 6 and 8 p.m. Friday at Concordia and the title game is 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Bren Center.